Long Beach Fire Academy, police gang unit could receive boosts

LONG BEACH -- Public safety funding is set to get a boost as Long Beach heads into a budget season with an expected $3.6 million surplus next year and more than $50 million available in so-called one-time money.

The City Council will be asked on Tuesday to allocate $560,850 from the 2014 budget to start an early Fire Academy, and supplement the police department's 2013 budget for gang enforcement by up to $600,000.

The gang unit funds will be used at Police Chief Jim McDonnell's discretion, according to a staff report. Leftover money will carry over for the same purpose next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

Last September, the Long Beach Fire Department graduated its first recruit class in four years, adding 15 firefighters to the city's ranks.

Fire officials have been working with city staff to accelerate its academy to start in September in order to fill vacant firefighter positions before the end of the calendar year.

Gang enforcement has been reduced during the city's last two budgets.

Last year, $2.6 million in one-time dollars were set aside to backfill police overtime, gang unit officers and neighborhood safety liaisons.

Eric Bradley can be reached at 562-499-1254 CORRECTION: The amount of the Long Beach public-safety surplus for next year was originally stated as $3.9 million in this article. It is instead $3.6 million, and this article was modified to correct that amount.